Five tools to tune up your typing skills

Introduction

If you do a lot of writing, it helps if you can type quickly and accurately. Fortunately, plenty of software packages are available to help you improve your typing skills. Here are five worth checking out.

TypingMaster Pro Typing Tutor

TypingMaster Pro Typing Tutor is one of the better typing tutorials on the market. It features a series of comprehensive lessons that collectively take several hours to complete.

TypingMaster Pro Typing Tutor

The software also tracks your progress and provides a number of statistics. It even tells you which keys are the most problematic for you. TypingMaster Pro Typing Tutor sells for $29.95.

Rapid Typing Tutor

Rapid Typing Tutor is a free utility that appears to be geared more toward beginners than experienced typists who want to increase their proficiency.

Rapid Typing Tutor

Although it lacks many of the bells and whistles found in other typing tutorials, it does offer a lesson editor you can use to create custom lessons.

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing has been around for what seems like forever. There isn't a free trial of the current version, but Download.com offers a free trial of a slightly older version, so you can get a feel for how the software works.

It is worth mentioning that the download is about 400 MB in size. Although this might not be large by today's standards, the download was painfully slow when I attempted it. In all, downloading and installing the trial took more than an hour to complete.

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

The software itself really isn't bad. Like most of the other typing tutorials on the market, it offers classroom-style lessons, typing tests, and typing games. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is available as a Deluxe Edition ($19.99) and a Platinum Edition ($29.99)

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor is a typing tutorial that is intended for beginners and advanced typists alike. Although the Viking theme might not appeal to everyone, it does help keep the otherwise monotonous typing lessons lighthearted and somewhat fun.

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor

In addition to the typing lessons, Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor offers a variety of typing games. It can also create playlists from your iTunes account so that you can rock out while you're working on your typing skills.

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor is free to use for 10 days, but the full version costs $25.95.

Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard

Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard

The program offers instructional text and then guides you through a series of typing lessons, all the while keeping track of your speed and accuracy. There is also a typing game where you have to repeat the letters that are displayed before they plummet to the bottom of the screen.

Introduction

If you do a lot of writing, it helps if you can type quickly and accurately. Fortunately, plenty of software packages are available to help you improve your typing skills. Here are five worth checking out.

The statement [i]"NOTE: If you'd prefer to view this information as a blog post, check out this entry in our Five Apps blog."[/i] is present in every slide show that has a corresponding article. The statement always contains a link to the article, but unfortunately many readers seem incapable of both looking at pictures and reading text, as a good many of them miss it.
So, since you missed it the first time, here it is, the link to the article: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-apps-to-make-you-a-better-typist/1516

"..useless and lazy." And yet, here you are. Have you not heard of efficiency? Or perhaps, "A picture is worth a thousand words." In which case, Brian has 11,000 words to his credit on this article. Hardly lazy compared to the meager 12 you used for a negative comment.